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Small things that make a difference

My first question is why was VS2010 released without features that existed (for a long time) in previous versions, small things that make a difference. And when will they be (re-)implemented?

Example 1:
New Project Dialog > Location combo. This used to support auto complete. Now, nada.

Example 2:
Documentation. Search really sucks. With Document Explorer, we had auto filtering of the matching results in the index pane. For instance when I pressed GetWin, it jumped to the first entry that started with GetWin (of course, because everything was indexed). Now, in the new documentation tool in the browser, there is no indexing. And if I search for "GetWin" I get no results.

We did not find any results for your query.

It only finds exact matches. This is outrageous. I have the entire documentation installed on my machine, it should be indexed and it should be possible to get results from partial names, like everything that starts with GetWin.

Example 3:
In VC++ mixed-mode application in VS2008 it was possible to change the targeted version of the .NET framework from the project properties dialog. But not in VS2010. You have to open the project file in an editor and MANUALLY change the version.

And I can give another examples, but I'll stop here.

Yes, VS2010 has nice new features, but there are also things that used to be there and were very useful and there is no support for them anymore.

Re: Small things that make a difference

I agree with Example 2 above. The new documentation system really sucks. Apart from the lack of an index (which is pretty fundamental for any help system) I keep getting broken links to articles, even though those articles are present (as I can find them when I search directly for them).

Re: Small things that make a difference

The thing that's really bugging me so far is that I can't find a "Cancel build" option anywhere. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right place, but that button should be front-and-center; I don't want to have to wait 3 minutes to try building again after fixing the first problem that popped up in the error list.

EDIT: I found it, but only on the Build toolbar, which isn't shown by default anyway. I still haven't found a way to put it into a menu.

OK, so maybe, maybe you have a workaround for one problem (I'll try the Power Tools, though I'm not happy that I have to install additional things to get really basic features). What about the bigger problem, that you lack so many simple functionality?

Re: Small things that make a difference

We'd love to hear from you about what we need to add to Visual Studio moving forward to give you that great experience you're after. The best way to do this is to take 5 minutes and file a bug/feature request at http://connect.microsoft.com/visualstudio. Please first search to see if somebody else has already submitted the same thing - if so, you can just +1 the vote for that item and it will move it up in our stack rank.

We really do read this and it makes a difference on how we build the product.

Re: Small things that make a difference

Huh! In the 2010 RC Ultimate I have installed I have File, Edit, View, Project, Build and so on when I have an open project.

I do remember though that I quite early after starting it for the first time the there were quite few menu options (I can't find it again so maybe that was in the express version?)

Strange that the Build menu isn't there. Try right-clicking on the menu/tool bar and select customize and then commands. Hopefully you can restore the build menu from here. If not I will delete mine and try as well (the RC will expire soon anyway)

Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place.
Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by
definition, not smart enough to debug it.
- Brian W. Kernighan

Re: Small things that make a difference

Well, I can create a Build menu that way if I want. But it really doesn't seem like one exists by default. I'm using Visual C++ 2010 Express, and I downloaded it just like a week or so ago so it's probably the newest version.

Re: Small things that make a difference

What concerns me is the MSDN documentation. I haven't looked at the new version ( if there is one ), but the .NET 2003 documentation were much more complete than the 2005 / 2008 versions. Or am I wrong?

Re: Small things that make a difference

Hannes - Really? I feel quite the opposite. The original 2003 FW1/1.1 documentation was meager at best. And most of the examples were in C# - which meant if I wanted to figure out how to do something in VB.NET, I had to start learning C# - which in a way, I did, double-points scored there - But in the last few years, I think the documentation has really taken off and a lot of effort has been put into it and it is really great.